Anthony Shorris notified staff that he's leaving the sprawling bi-state Port Authority after a little more than a year as executive director, signalling some changes of direction for Gov. David Paterson. Shorris had been an adviser to the Eliot Spitzer campaign for governor two years ago.
"We have made our critical infrastructure assets far safer using the finest analytic tools in the country," he states.
The full text of the letter is below.
Dan Janison
Dear Colleagues,
This morning I tendered my resignation as Executive Director to Chairman Coscia. I expect the Board will elect my successor at its meeting next week.
I am enormously proud of the work we have done together over the past sixteen months. We have advanced every goal I have tried to set for this agency. We have made our critical infrastructure assets far safer using the finest analytic tools in the country. We have taken enormous steps in making the agency a global leader in sustainability. And perhaps most of all, each of our businesses has taken major steps forward: the WTC is being built at last with vast new insurance proceeds in hand and with major new business partners, the size of our container port is growing for the first time in years, PATH is being completely re-juvenated, we bought a new airport and have begun our planning for major new terminals at all the others, the Goethals has been re-designed, and plans for a new Port Authority Bus Terminal are in place. Not a bad year or so.
What I am proudest about, however, is how we have invested in an even more important piece of infrastructure: the Port Authority itself. Our Leadership Fellows program is vibrant, we are building people's skills again, we are rewarding excellence in performance, and undertaking dozens of new initiatives to restore the Authority to its rightful place as the pre-eminent public agency. Our business planning and budgeting processes are integrated, focused, and forward-looking, our Law Department re-organized, a new financial analysis program in place . Our engineering, project management and World Trade Center Construction programs are unquestionably the finest building operations in the nation, now focused on delivering quality in design that will leave a legacy of excellence for generations to come. We have a data-driven Compstat program in place for our PAPD that is part of their success in reducing crime by 20 percent this year. And our information technology programs are now creatively driving and supporting change across the agency. There's more -- enough to fill pages -- and that's why I am so proud of all that you have done.
When I had my first meeting with you back in January 2007, I said that we had to do these kinds of great public sector jobs with the old sailors' maxim in mind: you can't control the wind, but you can set your sails. I think over the past sixteen months, we have had our share of winds to manage, but we have kept -- and I believe you will keep -- our sails set for the goals we all share: a safer, stronger and greener region for ourselves and our children.
Perhaps the most striking thing about the last year, though, has been how much fun we've had. The good sense and good humor you all bring to the office every day have added light to even the most difficult moments. So I want to thank you not only for your counsel, but also for your company.
Sincerely,
Tony